Question

Project Name: Desktop Virtualization with Directory via Workspaces

Technology: Cloud Computing

Market: Desktop Replacement, Thin Client

AWS: Workspaces, WorkDocs, Directory Services (Microsoft AD, Simple AD, etc.), VPC

Intended Services to Provision:

Virtual Desktop (Windows)

Design:

Your goal is to document the process of setting up an example for desktop virtualization.

Important Note:

At this stage in the course we are beginning to architect, configure, and deploy real services in the public cloud (specifically AWS). When you are beginning designing and deploying services, documentation can be of great help as replicating exact configurations can at times be challenging. Note: When we do not replicate a configuration exactly, we can be creating security issues (assuming we had a “secure” or robust design initially). Another reason to develop good documentation is that it gives a good idea of what should be happening with systems and it can be reviewed and refined over time so that the quality of your designs and configurations increases as you practice.

Questions to Answer:   

What can you accomplish using Workspaces on AWS for general purpose computing?

Explain the primary challenges that desktop virtualization in this manner solves.

What tradeoffs do these solutions make with a traditional desktop environment?

What are some of the primary considerations that you would make if you were the IT director / manager at an organization considering deploying workspaces as their primary end user “desktop”?  

Lastly, make notes / comments regarding performance and security considerations that you consider important.

In what ways can WorkDocs be used to add additional functionality to WorkSpaces?

What directory services options do you have to be able to use along with your Workspace? How would you select between the available directory service options.

As organizations continue adoption of compute services running on a variety of public clouds, what are some aspects to consider with regard to virtual desktop for general purpose computing (keep performance and security ideas at the forefront).

Practical:   

Configure a Workspace on AWS.

Create a directory for login.

(Note: The AWS Workspaces wizard combines these configuration stages.)

Login to your Workspace via your preferred client (note: Native clients perform better / more reliability, i.e. use Linux, Windows, and Mac OS client rather than the web client.

Use your Workspace for a few minutes to complete a task that you have to complete today.

Comment on how you feel about using Workspaces for general purpose computing and on specific usage (i.e engineering, architecture, accounting, etc.).

[Include your documentation below]

Deliverable(s):

Use this document as a base and include your ideas here. Submit and upload in Canvas in the assignment area for this project.  

Remember that the better the quality of your documentation, the greater the likelihood that you can reproduce a configuration for deploying a production system or rebuilding your production infrastructure after a disaster.

*** Note: Be sure to utilize Free Tier eligible or a low cost option of your choice. After your workload has been designed, deployed, tested, and documented, be sure to delete, decommission instances so as to not be continually charged for services.

Answer 1

For deploying any application over thin client, its very important first to understand what basically thin client is and what it does? Basically, a thin client is a computer like other computers which runs from resources that are stored on a centralized server i.e, cloud servers. Think of it as a vnc service or a remote desktop service which is placed somewhere and accessible remotely on the cloud or just say internet.

Now coming to the question:

Q.What can you accomplish using Workspaces on AWS for general purpose computing? Explain the primary challenges that desktop virtualization in this manner solves.

A. Think of it as a budget friendly investment where you just have to invest few dollars instead of investing large amount of data in building an Infrastructure. When you use AWS or any other Cloud Computing service (Azure, GCloud, Digital Ocean). Your cost cuts down by 70%

For Genral purpose computing, you don't need to worry about the resources to manage the issues one faces in such environment. You have support 24*7 available on just a click. You spend wisely and earns more. Primary challenge in such environment is to make sure everything you are deciding falls under your expectations. There are services for different resources like EC2 for Virtualization, S3 buckets for storing capabilities, vpc's for secure access. You just have to be sure what you want and study to keep yourself updated.

I hope my answer will give you an understanding on the thin client and deploying workspaces on cloud.